Comptroller seeks alternatives to pay down unemployment fund deficit

Unemployment insurance fund payouts increased1,000 percent during the pandemic, leaving a gap for the state to fill.New York’s unemployment insurance fund, which the state Labor Department says has paid out over $100 billion in benefits to millions of New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic, is now running a deficit. State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli is now proposing some ways to make the fund — which owes the federal government $9 billion — solvent.…